Explore citations in the graph view
Draw citations as edges in Obsidian's graph views, control what they show, and open a Citation Graph from the command palette.
Use Obsidian's own graph and local graph to see which notes rest on which works.
ZotLit draws an edge from each note to the works it cites. The edge ends on the Literature Note for that work, or on a Cited Work Node when your vault has no Literature Note for it yet.
Everything native keeps working: search, color groups, depth, incoming and outgoing links, arrows, and the local graph following the active note. Depth walks citation edges too, so depth 2 from a Literature Note reaches the notes that share its sources.
Before you start
- Turn on Obsidian's Graph view core plugin under Settings > Core plugins.
- Open Settings > ZotLit > Citations and check that Show citations in graph view is on. It is on by default.
- Leave at least one citation source on in the same page: Pandoc citations for
[@doe2024]citations, Wikilink citations for unaliased Literature Note links. A syntax you turn off there draws no citation edge anywhere.
Turning Show citations in graph view off removes added citation connections, Cited Work Nodes, and ZotLit controls. Your color groups and native graph settings remain.
Control what the graph draws
ZotLit adds six rows to the graph controls panel. Open the panel with the settings icon in the top-right corner of any graph.
| Section | Row | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filters | Pandoc citations | On | Draws an edge for each [@doe2024] citation. |
| Filters | Wikilink citations | On | Draws an edge for each unaliased link to a Literature Note. |
| Filters | Citation-connected only | Off | Hides every node except Literature Notes, Cited Work Nodes, and the notes that cite them. |
| Display | Author and title labels | Off | Shows authors, year, and short title on Literature Notes and Cited Work Nodes. |
| Display | Color citation links | Off | Draws citation edges in their own color, including existing wikilinks classified as citations. |
| Display | Citation popover | Off | Enables citation hover for Literature Notes and Cited Work Nodes. |
The Wikilink citations row is there only while Wikilink citations is on under Settings > ZotLit > Citations. With that setting off, a [[wikilink]] is not a citation and keeps its native meaning.
Each global or local graph tab saves its own options. Global graph bookmarks restore the options captured for that view. A separately opened ordinary graph starts with author and title labels, citation link colors, and citation popovers off. Restore default settings returns all six rows to the defaults above along with every native option.
With Obsidian's Bookmarks core plugin enabled, use Bookmark in the global graph's pane menu.
Obsidian's Existing files only hides Cited Work Nodes, because a cited work with no Literature Note is not a file in your vault.
Read authors and titles on nodes
Turn on Author and title labels in Display to identify works by author and title. Literature Notes and Cited Work Nodes use the same label format. Node colors show which works have Literature Notes.
The first line shows the authors and year, such as Smith et al. 2020. The dimmer second line shows Zotero's short title, or the full title when no short title exists. Long lines end with an ellipsis.
Zoom out to read the authors and years; zoom in to bring the titles into view. Titles fade in after the first line, following Obsidian's Text fade threshold. Hovering a node shows its second line at any zoom, even with Citation popover off.
If a work has no creators, its title moves to the first line and its year appears below. A missing year leaves the authors alone; a missing title leaves one line.
If ZotLit cannot read the work, a Literature Note keeps its file name. A Cited Work Node with a missing or ambiguous citation key keeps that key.
The graph's search box matches your files, not these displayed labels. An author name shown on a node only matches if your files already contain it. ZotLit does not add label text to your notes.
Node and edge colors
Literature Notes use native node colors. Add a color group to give them a shared color. Cited Work Nodes use a muted color unless a native group matches them.
Turn on Color citation links to color citation edges. With it off, every edge uses native colors. Edges keep Obsidian's highlight color while you hover over a connected node.
See Theme hooks for the group starting color, Cited Work Node color, and citation edge color.
Color your Literature Notes as a group
Open the Groups section
Open the graph controls panel and expand Groups.
Add the group
Select Add literature notes group, below the native New group control.
ZotLit inserts one color group whose search query matches every note carrying the zotero-key property, which is every Literature Note.
The new group starts with ZotLit orange: #E8622C in light mode or #F0793F in dark mode. Themes and CSS snippets can override its starting color.
Recolor, reorder, or delete it with native controls. Its saved color stays the same when you change themes. An existing matching group keeps its color and position. Selecting the button again adds a group only if you removed it.
Restore default settings clears every color group, this one included. The button stays, so one more press brings the group back.
Open a Citation Graph
A Citation Graph is the native graph with ZotLit's preset applied, so it opens as a research map instead of a full vault graph.
Run the command
Open the command palette (Ctrl+P on Windows and Linux, Cmd+P on macOS) and run one of:
The global command opens the graph where Obsidian's own Open graph view opens it. The local command opens a vertical split beside the note you are reading and follows that pane, like Obsidian's Open local graph. It appears in the palette only while a note is active.
Neither command has a default hotkey. Assign one under Settings > Hotkeys.
Read the preset
The graph opens with:
- Pandoc citations on, and Wikilink citations on where that row exists.
- Citation-connected only on, so the graph keeps your Literature Notes and citation structure.
- Author and title labels, Color citation links, and Citation popover on.
- Tags, Attachments, and Orphans off, Arrows on, and Existing files only off so Cited Work Nodes stay visible.
- One literature notes group, unless a group already uses its query.
Force settings and every other native option stay as you had them. Running either command a second time adds no second color group.
The preset applies to the graph tab opened by the command. Separately opened ordinary graphs keep their own defaults. Bookmark a graph to restore its selected options later. Running the command again restores the literature notes group if you removed it.
Graphs saved or bookmarked before author and title labels were added keep their previous labels. Run a Citation Graph command again to apply the current preset, or turn on Author and title labels in that graph.
A local Citation Graph does not hide orphans. Obsidian's local graph panel has no Orphans row at all, so the preset has nothing to set. With Citation-connected only on, an orphan rarely survives to be drawn.
When a command opens nothing
Both commands show a notice instead of opening a graph in three cases.
- The Graph view core plugin is disabled. Turn it on in Settings → Core plugins. Obsidian owns the graph views, so no graph opens until its core plugin is on.
- “Show citations in graph view” is turned off. Turn it on in Settings → ZotLit → Citations. The preset would otherwise open a graph with no citations in it, so the command stops instead.
- Citation graph is not available. ZotLit could not start the part that draws citation edges. Both settings above can be on and the command still stops here.
Act on a cited work
Select a Cited Work Node to fill the gap it marks.
| The citation key | What a click does |
|---|---|
| Matches one Zotero item | Creates the Literature Note from your profile and opens it. |
| Matches several Zotero items | Offers the candidates so you can pick the right one. |
| Matches no Zotero item | Shows a notice saying so, so you can correct the key in your note. |
A key that matches one Zotero item loses its Cited Work Node once the note exists. The graph redraws, and the Literature Note node takes its place, keeping its edges.
A key that matches several items keeps its Cited Work Node. Picking a candidate creates and opens that note, and leaves the key itself ambiguous, so the graph still has no single note to end the edge on. Resolve the key first. See a key that matches several items.
Right-click a Cited Work Node for the actions its key can carry out.
| The citation key | Menu items |
|---|---|
| Matches one Zotero item | Create literature note, Open in Zotero, Copy citation key |
| Matches several Zotero items | Create literature note, Copy citation key |
| Matches no Zotero item | Copy citation key |
Every other node keeps Obsidian's own menu.
Hover a node
Turn on Citation popover in the graph's Display section to enable citation hover. With it off, Literature Notes keep native hover and Cited Work Nodes show no popover.
With it on, hovering a Literature Note or a Cited Work Node follows Hover action under Settings > ZotLit > Citations, the same setting that governs hover in the editor.
| Hover action | On a Literature Note | On a Cited Work Node |
|---|---|---|
| Citation popover | Shows the formatted entry for the work. | Shows the entry for the work. |
| Page preview | Shows the note preview. | Nothing. |
| Off | Native hover. | Nothing. |
Every other node keeps Obsidian's native hover.
To require Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) for graph popovers, turn on Graph view under Settings > ZotLit > Citations > Require modifier key.
Under Citation popover, graph popovers use your vault's citation style and locale, including for uncited Literature Notes. Entries appear without numbering. If the style has no bibliography or formatting is unavailable, the popover shows the item's summary. Its actions use the item shown.
See also
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